It is very desirable to provide a material from aqueous solution that will condition the hair and still be compatible with anionic surfactants. This allows for the preparation of clear two in one shampoo systems, clear 2 in one shower gels, and clear two in one bath products. By two in one products in meant, a product that contains both anionic surfactant, most commonly sulfates and ether sulfates and a cationic conditioning agent. The anionic surfactant is the detergent, which cleans the hair or skin, and the cationic product is for conditioning providing softness, slip and feels to the skin. The problem with such product has always been the incompatibility of the anionic and cationic surfactants with each other. When many of these products are present in the same solution an insoluble salt forms making a cosmetically unacceptable white gunk that does not stay in solution.
As will become clear, by making a very large molecule the present invention results in a betaine that exhibits detergency, foam and conditioning in the same molecule. When these betaine compounds are placed in water along with the anionic surfactant, a clear stable solution is obtained.
The molecules of the present invention are truly multifunctional. They provide detergency. Foam and conditioning in surfactant systems. This makes them quite desirable in personal care products. Betaines are specific members of a class of compounds called amphoteric surfactants. They can exist only as amphoterics and cationic products over a wide range of pH. This is because the tetra substitution pattern around nitrogen makes the positive charge on nitrogen a permanent feature of the molecule regardless of pH. 
The compounds of the present invention can be formulated into body washes and other skin products and hair care products to provide a “delivery system” for conditioning the hair or skin. The high molecular weight of the product and the fact that they are amphoterics, results in through and efficient deposition on the hair or skin. This provides uniformity of conditioning agent over the entire hair of skin surface. This is particularly important for applications on hair for people with long hair. In general the long hair has at it's tip areas that are more damaged, dry and in need of conditioning. The hair closest to the scalp is newer, less damaged, and less in need of conditioning. This dichotomy of hair condition is more effectively treated by the compounds of the present invention than by other betaines.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,293 issued Dec. 18, 2001 to Smith et al describes phosphobetaines that are derived from dimer acid. Unlike the compounds of the present invention, these materials are amphoteric surfactants and are barriers when applied to the skin. It is stated that the compounds are “extremely substantitive to human skin and are well tolerated by human tissue making them suitable for use preparation of barrier products for personal care applications”. Unlike these materials, the compounds of the present invention contain no phosphate group and are conditioning agents, detergents and foaming agents.